TRANSFERRING BEES. 811 



likely to be well received, than at any other time, especially 

 if they come loaded with honey: still new swarms full of 

 honey, that attempt to enter other hives, are often killed at 

 once. If a colony which has an unimpregnated queen, seeks 

 to unite with another which has a fertile one, they are, almost 

 as a matter of course, at once destroyed ! If by moving 

 their hive, or in any other way, bees are, made to enter a 

 hive containing an unimpregnated queen, they will often 

 destroy her, if they came from a family which was in pos- 

 session of a fertile one I If any thing of this kind is ever 

 attempted, the queen ought first to be confined in a queen 

 cage. If while attempting a transfer of the bees to a new 

 hive, I am apprehensive of robbers attacking the combs, or 

 am pressed for want of time, I put only such combs as con- 

 tain brood into the frames, and set the others in a safe place. 

 The bees are now allowed to enter their new hive, and the 

 other combs are given to them at a more convenient time. 

 The whole process of transferral need not occupy more than 

 an hour, and in some cases it can be done in fifteen minutes. 

 If the weather is hot, the combs must not be exposed at all 

 to the heat of the sun. 



Unlil 1 had tested the feasibility of transferring bees from 

 the old hives, by means.of my frames, I felt irreconcilably 

 opposed to any attempt to dislodge them from their previous 

 habitation. Who can look, without disgust, when bees are 

 transferred in the usual way, upon the wanton destruction of 

 thousands of their young, and the silly waste of comb, 

 which can be replaced only by the consumption of large 

 quantities of honey .'' In the great majority of such cases, 

 the transfer, unless made about the swarming season, and 

 previous to the issue of the first swarm, will be an entire 

 failure, and if made before, at best only one colony is ob- 

 tained, instead of the two, which are secured on my plan. 



